Bidspirit auction | Irving, Washington — A HISTORY

Irving, Washington — A HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND VOYAGES OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. London. John Murray, Albemarle-Street. 1828. 4 volumes. xii, 473, [iii]; [viii], 490, [ii]; viii, 413, [iii]; vii, [i], 489, [iii] pp. 23.0 cm × 14.5 cm. E. - First edition, published in London, preceding the American edition of the same year. Washington Irving travelled to Madrid in 1826 with the intention of translating into English the Spanish sources on Christopher Columbus, but ended up writing his own biography, working in close collaboration with Alexander von Humboldt on the geographical material. The work was considered, throughout the nineteenth century, one of the most authoritative accounts of the navigator's life, and is enriched, in the final volume, with 35 appendices on his will, funeral, descendants, and genealogy, as well as biographical notes on other figures who crossed his path. Illustrated with two large folding maps, drawn by J. & C. Walker: in the first volume, the ”Chart of the West Indies with the adjacent coast of South America” (55.5 × 65.5 cm), and in the second, the ”Chart showing the tracks across the North Atlantic Ocean” (35.5 × 53.5 cm), showing the routes taken by Christopher Columbus on each of his four voyages. The title pages of all volumes bear a quotation from Seneca's tragedy Medea. Washington Irving (New York, 1783–1859) was an American writer, diplomat, and author of numerous works of fiction and history, among them the Tales of the Alhambra. He served as United States Ambassador to Madrid between 1842 and 1846. Copy with wear to the binding boards and some foxing characteristic of the paper. Bindings with leather spines bearing printed paper title labels and pasteboards.